A new NFT (non-fungible token) project launched by Hollywood star Mila Kunis made approximately $8 million in an NFT sale that lasted less than 40 minutes. The NFTs are linked to adult animated comedy series called “Stoner Cats.”
Stoner Cats is one of the first TV show that is fully funded by NFTs, digital collectibles that are created and used in a blockchain network. The show essentially follows an old woman living with a family of cats voiced by several well-known public figures such as Chris Rock, Ashton Kutcher, Jane Fonda, Mila Kunis, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. The old woman called “Ms. Stoner” (voiced by Jane Fonda) has Alzheimer’s disease and uses marijuana as a remedy for her ailments. However, she accidentally hotboxes the pets with marijuana and they begin speaking. The dramatic story continues as the pets try to help their human friend with a variety of accidents.
The Craze Sale
The sale featured a collection of 10,420 NFTs of digital cats with unique traits. It was created to promote and fund the production of the show. All the NFTs were sold in just about 35 minutes with each card going for 0.35 ETH (over $800). A token enables the owner to unlock access to all episodes of the television show. The sale raised a total of 3,647 ETH (about $8.4 million).
The sale through turned out to be successful, experienced some huddles. As prospective buyers were lining up for the launch, the Ethereum gas fee quickly rose forcing some people to pay more money (up to five times the price) in gas fees.
Additionally, technical challenges were experienced during the sale as many users failed to receive their tokens despite paying for them. The problem resulted from the congestion in the Ethereum blockchain network as many people were trying to secure the tokens before they were sold out. Users of the Ethereum blockchain usually end up paying the transactions fees even if the transaction fails. However, the Stoner Cut team promised to cover all the failed transactions.
How to Watch the Show
You need a Stoner Cat NFT to access the show. One NFT that initially sold at $800 grants the holder of these tokens access to all the episodes of the show. If you did not buy the NFTs during the initial sales, you still have a chance to own one. The tokens are available for resale on Opensea. However, they command higher prices than the initial $800. For instance, a “Ms. Stoner” card that was sold for 30 ETH ($69,700) was later offered for resale with a price tag of 35,000 ETH ($81.3M).
Why Stoner Cats is using NFTs
According to Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher, this new model for watching TV shows comes with significant benefits. First, it enables the team to retain creative control and financial ownership of the show. Funding the project through NFTs cuts out the red tapes hence enabling the artists to do their work quickly and with convenience. Second, the model, which is more decentralized, enables direct interaction with the viewers, thus enabling quick feedback. Timely feedback can help during the production as it can be easily integrated into the script.
As it’s explained in their manifiesto, they “believe that storytellers deserve an outlet where they can be valued and supported without having to bow to the machine of big media. So we’re tilting the model on its head and testing a new architecture using NFTs that can connect storytellers directly with their audience and essentially decentralize content production.”
Final Thought
Stoner Cat has given us the idea of how the future of the movie industry may look like when it adopts the NFT technology. This is just the first case of a television show that is fully funded by NFTs the immense benefits that it brings to the industry. By decentralizing the industry, NFT will cut all the red tapes that challenge the industry. We are still yet to see how rapidly the film and TV industry will adopt this technology, However, we know the Stoner Cat case is a beginning of a revolution in this industry.